7 Things That Must Happen For A WWE Brand Split To Work
History is doomed to repeat itself unless WWE can right their wrongs with the Brand Split.
When WWE bought out WCW in March 2001 and created their largest wrestling roster ever, it was only logical to split the roster up into two between Raw and SmackDown. At that point, the Brand Split was an excellent idea in theory to create competition between the two shows.
Unfortunately, the concept was poorly executed, and while it worked for the first few years, it eventually became the laughing stock of the company. With so many flaws and inconsistencies, the Brand Split was scrapped in 2011 in favor of the “supershow” gimmick, which meant everyone on the active roster could appear on both shows. Essentially, it was WWE's way of admitting the experiment was a failure.
But now the Brand Split is being brought back this summer, and it couldn't have occurred at a better time with several Superstars coming back from injury and a number of names being called up from NXT. Although the timing is right, it is imperative WWE learn from their mistakes and take the split seriously. Otherwise, it's doomed to fail.
In order for the split to be a success, these seven things must happen first.
7. Long-term General Managers
Trust me, I am just as sick of authority figures in WWE as you are, but truth be told, general managers are as essential a part of a Brand Split as anything else. Without them, there isn't any storyline structure (i.e. how are matches made otherwise?), though it's imperative they don't overshadow the active roster and take up too much air time.
Shane and Stephanie, that means you.
Back when the Brand Split was initially instituted, it made sense to have a head of Raw and SmackDown and it worked to begin with. Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon seemed to legitimately hate each other, constantly going behind the other's back to trade talent and it felt like the way actual sports work.
Somewhere along the way, however, WWE lost sight of how to properly utilize their general managers.
After Bischoff ran Raw for over three years and Teddy Long took charge of SmackDown for nearly four, we went through a period of time where we had a different authority figure every other month (and this was prior to the birth of the horrendous Guest Host era). Mike Adamle was around for a cup of coffee, Bret Hart didn't last long and Vickie Guerrero had a thousand different titles because she was fired and re-hired on countless occasions.
It's okay for Shane and Stephanie McMahon to rule Raw and SmackDown starting this summer. Just be sure to keep it that way for the foreseeable future.